Cricket World Cup 2015: Virat Kohli has proved he's a better cricketer than Sachin Tendulkar

Why not say it directly without any ifs or buts - Virat Kohli is the most sensational ODI batsman born on Indian soil so far. To be precise, he is, by far, better than even master blaster Sachin Tendulkar in every sense of the cricketing term.

26-year-old Kohli's fireworks at the Adelaide in Australia against arch-rival Pakistan speaks for itself. Till now, most experts used to deflect a direct comparison saying either it's too early to compare the two or only time will tell. So the time has come.

Virat is better than Sachin. Period.

The way he plays, Kohli looks well poised to go down as the best ODI batsman in history. Data is heartless as it presents the fact without emotions. Going by this, Tendulkar had scored 5,342 runs in 151 ODIs with an average of 39.86 and 12 centuries, whereas Kohli has scored 6,332 runs in 151 ODIs with an average of 52.33 and 22 centuries. The difference is of around 1,000 runs and ten centuries and 12 runs average. If the number of centuries are any yardstick to judge a batsman's career, Kohli took 143 innings to score 22 while Tendulkar had taken 206 innings to reach 22.

In his seven years of playing official cricket, Kohli has been more consistent than Tendulkar. His imperious innings against Pakistan was the first century by any Indian against its archrival in World Cups. At the tail end of his career, there used to be a perception that when Tendulkar scored a century India lost the match. While out of 22 centuries Virat scored, India only lost two matches and won 20. While Kohli's big knocks have won matches, Tendulkar faced flak for playing for records.

Pressure always took a toll on the little master which reflected in his two stints as captain. On both occasions, his performance was vastly affected. He himself stepped down from the throne. On many occasions he has refused to take the top responsibility. Now, consider Kohli's performance during the recent Australia tour where he got the Test captainship midway from MS Dhoni. The batting wizard has scored three centuries in the first three innings of his Test Captaincy debut. A world record. Kohli's performance in Australia shows the Test captainship has added a pinch of aggression to his style.

The feisty batsman has already acquired many firsts to his name by now. Some of these firsts were earlier in Sachin's kitty.